February 11, 2025 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) finds itself under fire again over its vetting standards, this time for allegedly overlooking the use of forced labor in overseas fisheries. A coalition of environmental and labor NGOs has called on MSC to acknowledge that its label may not be “fit for purpose” for evaluating labor standards in the complex, opaque seafood supply chain.

Labor exploitation is a fact of life in a segment of the global fishing fleet, and its ubiquity and ease of concealment out on the high seas make it a challenge to exclude from the supply chain. At least 128,000 fishermen are subjected to forced labor conditions worldwide, according to conservative estimates by the International Labor Organization, and the agency believes the real number is likely higher.

In an open letter, a coalition led by Global Labor Justice asserted that MSC’s certification program is not combating that challenge, and may be impeding efforts to fight labor abuses. The NGOs cited a 2024 study of MSC’s vetting program for the tuna industry, which found that about half of MSC’s tuna fishery certificates “appeared to lack any form of information on vessel ownership,” and that just four percent of MSC tuna certificate holders appeared to own any tuna vessels. The overwhelming majority of the certified companies were market intermediaries, without direct involvement in vessel operations, and MSC’s labor compliance check process relied largely on self-declaration.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive